It’s hard to think of anything else when you’re constipated. And while you may have tried ramping up your fiber intake and drinking more water to help get things moving again, you may be wondering if there’s anything else you can do to fix the situation.
Researchers in the UK have got your back. A new scientific analysis just dropped in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics that spells out specific guidance that can help people with constipation.
While these findings recommend what to do if you’re dealing with chronic constipation, which is when you have symptoms of constipation for three months or longer, experts say they can help anyone who is struggling to poop. Here’s what the researchers discovered, plus how to put these ingredients to work for you—and your GI tract.
You may not have these items at your place right now.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from 75 randomized control trials along with 59 dietary recommendation statements that focused on people with constipation. While the researchers discovered that the data wasn’t there to support widely recommended approaches like following a generic high fiber diet, they identified certain foods and one drink that did seem to help.
For foods, that included eating kiwi and rye bread, as well as drinking “high mineral-containing water.” Though that assortment seems random, experts say it makes sense. Here’s why.
Let’s start with kiwi, which is packed with features to get things moving in your gut. “Kiwis help alleviate constipation because they are great sources of soluble and insoluble fiber,” Jeremy Polman, DO, a gastroenterologist at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital, tells SELF. “Soluble fiber helps soften stool by absorbing water, and insoluble fiber adds bulk to help with colonic transit.”
But kiwi also contains an enzyme called actinidin, which is helpful for combating constipation, Scott Keatley, RD, co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy, tells SELF. “Actinidin appears to stimulate intestinal motility and improve gastric emptying,” he says. Basically, kiwi can help soften poop and make it easier to pass, while also encouraging your GI tract to move things alone.
In a perfect world, you’d eat your kiwi with the skin on, Sumona Bhattacharya, MD, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at GW Medical Faculty Associates, tells SELF. “I always recommend at least trying the kiwi fruit with the skin on. A significant amount of the fiber is in the skin,” she says. (If you’d rather eat a skinless kiwi, Dr. Bhattacharya still says you can get fiber and constipation help from your fruit.)
